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Ng Han Guan / AP, file
In this photo taken on April 15, 2012, what appears to be a new missile is carried during a mass military parade at the Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea. The photo shows the warhead's surface is undulated, suggesting it's a thin metal sheet unable to withstand flight pressure, analysts say.
The Associated Press reports — Analysts who have studied photos of a half-dozen ominous new North Korean missiles showcased recently at a lavish military parade say they were fakes, and not very convincing ones, casting further doubt on the country's claims of military prowess.
The weapons displayed April 15 appear to be a mishmash of liquid-fuel and solid-fuel components that could never fly together. Undulating casings on the missiles suggest the metal is too thin to withstand flight. Each missile was slightly different from the others, even though all were supposedly the same make. They don't even fit the launchers they were carried on.
Ng Han Guan / AP, file
Adding more doubt to North Korea's claims of military prowess after its flamboyant rocket launch failure, analysts say the half dozen missiles showcased at the military parade were low-quality fakes.
"There is no doubt that these missiles were mock-ups," Markus Schiller and Robert Schmucker, of Germany's Schmucker Technologie, wrote in a paper posted recently on the website Armscontrolwonk.com that listed those discrepancies. "It remains unknown if they were designed this way to confuse foreign analysts, or if the designers simply did some sloppy work." Read the full story.
David Guttenfelder / AP, file
North Korean civilians, some weeping, wave flowers as they look up at Kim Jong Un, unseen, at the end of the military parade on April 15, 2012.
Richard Engel, NBC's chief foreign correspondent, shares a rare and revealing look inside the reclusive kingdom of North Korea.
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has anyone ever seen a politically oriented photo of N. Korea where the people look happy and healthy?
we should never underestimate a mad man/govt. ,
if He only has a few real missiles, why would he parade around real weapons that he needs to be at operation ready status? mock ups will do, and we know he is potentially capable. besides, all parade floats are technically mock-ups or representations on a theme. my apologies for rambling, it's a slow friday.
Why Do We The West Feeds this regime and send them food to feed their armies. Finaly over 80 million of their hungry citizens would crash this futile regime, like it happened in the Soviet Union when we quit feeding them. It is a paper Tiger!
Yea yea yea, but what if there just decoys??
I'm sure someone already said this, but I wonder how much of this type of display is aimed towards foreign devils and how much to keep the populace from figuring out how impotent their military is. Sometimes it is hard to understand how we invade other countries and yet let North Korea enslave millions of people. Of course, I'm not saying we should invade any country, but I feel so sorry for the North Koreans after reading several books.
Just trying to carry on the legacy of Kim Jong (Mentally) Il
NK they are playing the game real & fake ( it'll the real one or it 'll the fake one ), I can tell now NK they already have the real missiles , but not open the Game now !!!! Wai..................t for It's time !
next stop N. Korea, as soon as we mop up in Afganistan crush Pakistan and level Iran.
When the germans strarted their experiments with armored warfare they used mock, cardboard tanks according to Gen. Guderian memoirs. Ten years later or so, the Polish cavalry gallantly charged what they beelieved mock tanks and died like flies... It is all bare bones now, but it should be remembered.
Why do Americans feel the need to demonstrate their idiocy to the world by posting such inane drivel?